Princess Eugenie’s Engagement Forced To Wait For Harry And Meghan, Per ‘Harper’s Bazaar’

Princess Eugenie of York only officially announced her engagement to longtime boyfriend Jack Brooksbank in January of this year, but a new rumor doing the rounds seems to believe her engagement and wedding plans were put off for over a year.

According to Harper’s Bazaar, Eugenie was told to delay her engagement news because of her cousin, Prince Harry, and his then-girlfriend Meghan Markle. Rumors started swirling around Harry and Meghan early in 2017, with the media and the public hanging on the edge of a cliff waiting for the couple to announce their royal engagement.

As a result, Princess Eugenie and her happy news would have to wait.

Harry and Meghan finally announced their engagement in November 2017 and set a May 2018 wedding date. In the meantime, Eugenie was allowed to share her engagement announcement in January and is set to walk down the same aisle as Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, walked down in May when she and Harry tied the knot in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.

Eugenie and Brooksbank have an October 12 wedding date and are said to have invited more guests than can actually be seated inside the chapel for their two-day affair.

An anonymous friend of the York family has spoken to Vanity Fair, explaining why Eugenie would have to wait for Harry’s news.

“It’s my understanding that Eugenie and Jack decided some time ago that they wanted to get married, and there was some talk about a wedding in 2017, but they had to wait for Harry to go first. The feeling among the Yorks is that she deserves her moment in the spotlight and a big royal wedding with all the frills.”

Because Harry stands ahead of his cousin in the line of succession, his nuptials would take precedence over Eugenie’s.

“There are no bad feelings at all,” the source insisted, according to Vanity Fair. “Eugenie is very close to Harry, and she knows how the system works.”

Although Eugenie’s wedding won’t be quite the same fanfare as Harry and Meghan’s was, there are plenty of A-listers invited to the special day, with 850 guests being squeezed into St. George’s 800-seat chapel. As one of the best-connected royals, Eugenie has invited the likes of George and Amal Clooney, David and Victoria Beckham, Robbie Williams and his wife Ayda Field, Ellie Goulding, James Blunt, and Sir Elton John.

The two-day wedding celebration will include a “champagne reception at St. George’s Hall on the grounds of Windsor Castle” hosted by Eugenie’s grandmother Queen Elizabeth, and a party at the Royal Lodge hosted by Eugenie’s parents, the Duke and Duchess of York.